subconcussive

A new study linking frequent heading of a soccer ball with changes to the white matter of the brain and poorer performance on a neurocognitive test of memoryis likely to add fuel to the fire of a 30-year-old debate about the effects of heading.

Brain trauma to youth and high school players in contact and collision sports can occur not just from violent helmet-on-helmet collisions but from repetitive sub-concussive blows. There are five major ways to reduce exposure to such hits, experts say.

New rules and recommendations regarding heading in youth soccer issued in November 2015 by a number of national and California soccer organizations have generated significant controversy, with some criticizing the rules as going too far and some as not going far enough. Not surprisingly, Dr. Frank Webbe, a prominent researcher on the subject of heading in soccer and a longtime supporter of a ban on heading in soccer below age 14, favors the new rules, despite the lack of data to establish their effectiveness.

Limiting or eliminating contact practices in football would result in an
18% to 40% reduction in head impacts respectively over the course of a
high school football season, reports a new study, which urges policymakers to proceed with
caution in imposing such limits.

Concussions, and even lesser subconcussive head trauma, may speed up the brain's natural aging process says a new study which found changes in gait, balance, and in the brain's electrical activity in areas measuring attention and impulse control in otherwise healthy college students with a history of concussion.

While it is possible that intentional heading in soccer represents a
form of repetitive subconcussive mild brain injury which, over time,
could be a cause of chronic traumatic encephalpathy (CTE), the possible cause-and-effect relationship remains theoretical, says a 2012 study.

New rules in place by the Ivy League for the 2011 football season -
including a reduction in the number of full-contact practices and drills
- were designed to protect student-athletes from subconcussive hits
considered a possible cause of long-term brain injury,

The Ivy League adopted groundbreaking new rules for the 2011 football season intended to lower the risk of concussion and the number subconcussive hits, including reducing to two the number of full-contact, in-season practices allowed per week. New research suggests that such repeated hits may cause more brain damage than blows resulting in diagnosed concussions.